By Rich Csenge & Laura Klina
Each year, Amazing Earthfest, a nonprofit organization based in Kanab holds a multiday free public festival celebrating the land and life of the Colorado Plateau. In addition to outdoor adventure, environmental awareness and musical performance, indigenous culture and the peoples of the region were included to a greater degree during the 18th annual 2024 festival than ever before.
This year’s events, funded in part by the Kane County Office of Tourism and generous individual and area business donors, brought presenters from Utah, Ariz. and Colo. Attendees flocked to Kanab from numerous different states, enjoying the excellent weather and joining local residents for 32 scheduled festival events that took place May 8 - 12.
Left to right:
Photo by Laura Klina.
Photo by Laura Klina.
Evvy Lynn Trujillo is from the village of Mungapi on a mesa east of Tuba City Moenkopi. She has mothered eight children, now having nine grand ones, with whom she shares her talents from more than 31 years of making pottery and basket-weaving. Here she inscribes a pot from a kiln her husband provided before he passed away. Photo by Jerry Melrose.
Pastor Rick Sherman of St. Christopher’s Catholic Church in Kanab shared on his topic of “Sacred Space for a Sacred Journey” through thoughtful readings of several passages from meditative books from the ‘Desert Fathers’ and other authors. Photo by Jerry Melrose.
Amazing Earthfest provides opportunities for active persons interested in conservation of Earth’s natural systems to meet each other and build relationships through its educational and informative activities. By participating in multiple events throughout the week, more than 238 unique individuals generated total attendance of 917 persons.
The festival this year was directed by Laura Klina, formerly a resident of Kanab, who served for five years as a trustee for the nonprofit. Laura strove to diversify the festival’s themes by inviting different religious, spiritual and cultural affiliations to express their views and concerns for our environment. The Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Roman Catholic community participated.
In two specially featured events, participating organizations were given the freedom to structure their involvement as they wished. Angelita Bulletts coordinated with various members and leaders of the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, indigenous inhabitants of the region, to create a spectacularly educational and historically representative “fashion show”, expressing the beauty, dignity, and practicality of native designed attire.
Angelita is a member of the tribe’s Cultural Resources Committee, and formerly, the first female Native American BLM district manager. At the event, twenty-nine tribal members donned traditional dress from across the ages, displaying each item to the audience at the picturesque Angel’s Landing site at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Angelita simultaneously expressed aloud the history and significance of the attire and accessories creating a fabulous presentation punctuated in song with the powerful voice and drum of tribal Cultural Resources Director Daniel Bulletts. Other members also spoke and sang as the event ended with the teaching of a circle dance for the participation of everyone present.
In a different direction, an invitation by Amazing Earthfest to express views on the environment was welcomed by the Latter-day Saint Community and delivered in the form of a panel discussion assembled and moderated by Brendan Renisink, associate director for the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at BYU. Five panelists shared personal experiences while expressing cultural and doctrinal perspectives within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints on land use and stewardship for the environment. Panelists included BYU professors, the associate director for the Bean Museum, an LDS Environmental Stewardship board member, an LDS member of the Hopi Tribe and Kanab’s own Matt Brown.
Hopi woman and knowledge-holder, Evvy Lynn Trujillo, also one of the LDS panel members, held an event the prior day, speaking reverently about her relationship with nature and the traditional cultural practices of dry farming while displaying cultural arts in weaving and pottery that she had made with her own hands. Her presentation showcasing beautiful, intricately woven and painted bowls, various seeds, and provisions she displayed for the enrichment of the audience was extremely well-received.
The festival’s best attended documentary film chronicled the life and work of one of our nation’s most successful Secretaries of the Interior, Stuart Udall. In Stewart Udall: The Politics of Beauty, an audience of over 50 persons explored the illustrious career of a man who dedicated his life to conservation and environmental justice for the people of America during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations.
The 19th annual Amazing Earthfest will be held in May, 2025. To participate as a presenter, hike leader, volunteer, or attendee, please contact administrator@amazingearthfest.org. To learn more about past festival events, visit amazingearthfest.org.
